Spudley the Cat

Spudley the Cat paid a brief visit today. She visits everyday, in fact. She’s been visiting ever since she was a little kitten, hardly tall enough to see over the step by the back door at my parents’ house. She would then – and does now – wait patiently until we see her, and then would give out a little friendly “meow”. She would never walk into the house… only wait by the door.

As the years have gone by, she has started, on occasions, to walk inside, investigating various corners and chair legs, but she doesn’t stay in long. She will go back to her spot by the step, and look in.

She has beautiful green eyes, that sparkle when you look at her and talk to her. She purrs very loudly when she is weaving in her figure of eight way around and between whoever’s legs are nearby. She loves the little cat treats we buy for her, and lets us know if she wants some. She still eats them if she doesn’t let us know too. I’m sure she smiles as well when being tickled or spoken to. And she is learning to speak English! On many occasion when we go outside to her, she will say “Hello”. That is the first thing that we say to her every time we see her, and I think she is copying us now. She has been visiting for years, so she must have picked it up!

She sometimes visits with some of her friends in tow. Frobisher, the black cat with the white patch on his chest and a little white toe on one of his back paws. His meows are quite deep, and when he was younger he was a very sturdy and bold little fella. He has now gone more ‘cat-size’ but still has his deep voice. Another cat who visits is Jasper, a ginger and white cat who also has a deep meow. Jasper is quite friendly, but wary. He will come over to us, but will also back away too. I think he may have some trust issues with people, but we welcome him just the same. Panther is a jet black cat with a big bushy tail. I think she got confused once, and was sitting at the top of the stairs in my parents’ house. She realised she was in the wrong house, and shot out like a flash when she saw us… she still comes back occasionally though. And there are others who visit, who we haven’t got the names for as yet.

Every one of them, the ones without names, Spudley, Frobisher, Jasper and Panther always take some time for themselves. They will sit (or lie) and just wait and watch. Sometimes for hours on end. You can see that they are thinking. I sometimes wish that I could read their minds to find out exactly what it is that they are thinking about. However, just watching them relax is relaxing in itself. Watching them play is fun. And listening to the tales they have to tell is quite entertaining. I don’t know what they are saying, but they get into their stride at times with some of their stories. Especially Spudley. She always has a tale to tell.

When she first arrived on the scene, when she was a little kitten, she was soaking wet. The day itself was a sunny day, but she was sodden. She was taken in by one of my parents’ neighbours, who said that they thought that someone had tried to drown her. Apparently she is also partly deaf. Whatever happened to her in her early days, we will never truly know. I think she has also forgotten about it herself, as she makes friends very easily with us humans.

She may no longer be as small as the size of the palm of my hand, but she still has the very same personality that she had when we first met many years ago. Occasionally, she will look like a bigger version of the kitten that she was, but more often now she has her adult looks. I’m not sure if she is the world’s first bilingual cat, but she is one of the world’s special ones.